


The Blank Place

by rilenite



Series: Dungeons and Dragons Writing [2]
Category: Dragon Ball Z, Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dungeons & Dragons, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-27
Updated: 2017-11-27
Packaged: 2019-02-07 12:44:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12841440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rilenite/pseuds/rilenite
Summary: Nappa had never been a vulnerable man.[AKA: I'm in a DnD campaign where I play Vegeta as a joke and things took a turn for the serious because I'm a fool.]





	The Blank Place

**Author's Note:**

> Listen I made a joke about us doing a campaign where we played characters from TV shows or video games or whatever and then things got serious.

Nappa had never been a vulnerable man. He was emotional sure, but he was never vulnerable. At least, he’d never been until this night. He’d known death would come for him and his family one day, it was just the way they lived. You fought in battles day after day until you finally found a battle worth dying in. The Gods would see you in your finest moment of glory and finally grant you peace amongst the golden heavens, where you would be welcomed by all your comrades who had fallen before you. No matter who died first or last, they would all find each other again, someday. That was always what his wife had told him when one of their children didn’t come home at the scheduled time, or when news of a bloody massacre came to the compound. They’d all be together again, you just had to wait.

Now that would never be true.

Those who died quietly, without warning and without fighting back, the heavens weren’t open to them. They drifted away in silence, in the same way they died. They were never to be reunited with loved ones, they would never know the joys of the heavens. It was why cowardly tricks and ambushes had been so reviled amongst his people, to rob someone of their afterlife was a cruelty reserved only for the most vile. It wasn’t meant to happen to good soldiers. It wasn’t meant to happen to his wife,  _ his children _ . As he sat there with the eleven year old, Raditz, pushed hard into his side openly sobbing, he couldn’t help but feel the vulnerability he’d never had to face before raise up inside him. Everyone but the three of them, they’d all been robbed of their afterlives. Raditz’ mother, a gentle woman with a great talent with the quarterstaff, his father, one of the best of the low class warriors, and his newborn brother who’d never had a chance to even taste battle, all of them were gone for good. Despite his complaints about his family, Nappa knew Raditz was far closer to his parents than he would dare let on. He hadn’t even attempted to put on a tough face when they found the wreckage that was their barracks, rather he immediately burst into tears.

Part of him was glad that the younger of the two hadn’t reacted in such a way. He didn’t think he would be able to keep himself together if he had two sobbing children to watch over, but at the same time the blank expression the child made was almost worse. He wasn’t used to this indifference, he’d always been so… explosive. The slightest bit of provocation could get him riled up, he’d seen plenty of soldiers get burned for slighting him. But now, after learning his father had died without glory, he sat there seemingly feeling nothing. He didn’t trust himself to speak, so he let him sit there in silence. The three of them, all cramped up in a small room thrown together in a hurry in order to give them some place to sleep, though they all knew none of them would be sleeping that night.

The following days were spent almost in the same way their nights were spent. Raditz eventually pulled himself away from Nappa’s side, but he could still hear the muffled cries. Vegeta left the room with little explanation on occasion, but he always returned hours later, still silent. In the moments where both of them were preoccupied, Nappa snuck away to use some of his remaining cash on the strongest alcohol they had on the compound. He told himself it was just to calm down, he needed to do something for himself, otherwise he’d be useless to the kids. The excuse of using it just to calm down a bit fell apart when he awoke with a pounding headache one morning with a panicked Raditz shaking him, saying that the Yuan-Ti who was so often seen by Lord Frieza’s side had come and taken Vegeta with him while Nappa was passed out. 

Despite the pain it caused him, he went to find the boy immediately. He was Vegeta’s guardian and the idea of a man coming in, no matter how much higher in the ranks he was, and taking the boy without informing him infuriated him. He would be damned if he failed to protect the boy. When he arrived at the building that house their Lord and his top men, the guards let him through as though they had been expecting his arrival. The first resistance he met was outside of Lord Frieza’s own office, the guards curtly informed him he wasn’t allowed to be present in their Lord’s personal meetings unless specifically invited. He was close to knocking the dumb fucks teeth in when the door opened, revealing the Yuan-Ti Raditz had said took Vegeta. It was the same fucker who’d first come to meet with his people, the same manicured appearance, the same easy smile, even looking at it made him feel sick.

“I see we didn’t have to send an invitation for you, General,” he cocked an eyebrow, clearly amused.

“Where is Vegeta?” he demanded. He knew the man could sit there and speak pleasantries for hours if he wanted to, he had no desire to stay in his presence longer than he had to.

“In a private meeting with Lord Frieza, I apologize we didn’t give you a formal notice. You were rather… preoccupied, unfortunately,” Zarbon pushed his braid to the other side of his head as he made a show of putting his apology in the kindest terms. “We were going to invite you along, but Lord Frieza didn’t need you present for the first bit of the meeting so we weren’t particularly worried about it. We knew you’d come running eventually. We were actually a little surprised it took you as long as it did, though it hardly matters. You’ve arrived on time and Lord Frieza will see you now.”

Nappa only hesitated for a moment as he entered the room, taking a short glance back at Raditz who stood stock still in the hall. Once he was fully in the room, it only took him moments to locate the boy he’d been looking for. He sat perfectly still in a chair facing away from Nappa and towards Lord Frieza. He didn’t turn when Nappa entered, but Lord Frieza took immediate notice. The reptilian man was quick to move away from the boy and toward Nappa.

“Ah, lovely of you to join us General. I was afraid you wouldn’t find your way here on your own,” he said in that eerily courteous voice of his.

“What did you need from him,” he responded without returning the greeting. He wasn’t here to play games with the lizard. Lord Frieza pursed his lips slightly and twitched his tail slightly, before returning to the same casual regality he’d always worn before.

“Mm, I should have expected a Saiyan to have no time for proper conversation. I had hoped after the years you’ve spent amongst my ranks you’d have picked up at least a few civilized behaviours,” he mused to himself, looking away from Nappa. “I suppose that leads well into what I ‘want with’ your charge,” he returned his gaze to the taller man.

“I was informed when Zarbon arrived at your quarters you were in… less than desirable conditions, should we say. While you are an adult and drinking isn’t against any of our rules, I’m concerned at having a child such as Vegeta left under your care. His father promised me he had great potential, but I can’t expect him to live up to his father’s promise while living under the care of a man still obviously recovering from his own loses,” Nappa grit his teeth at the words.

“His  _ father  _ trusted me with him even before his death. I have been watching over him longer than he can even remember,” he glanced back at the chair Vegeta sat in. Normally he’d expect to hear some sort of protest from the child, he’d always hated it when people spoke as though he wasn’t in the room, but he didn’t even see Vegeta’s tail twitch.

“And look at where he is General. Getting into petty fights with other soldiers nearly daily, running around the training grounds with no supervision, intruding upon high security areas-” Nappa snapped to attention at those words.  
“He’s been doing what now?”

Lord Frieza’s eye widened at his words.

“Were you even aware of what he’s been doing this past month?” Nappa sucked in a sharp breath, and he swore he saw the lizard’s mouth twitch up into a smile for just a moment, “I would take that as a negative. See, this is why I brought you here General. I have a proposition, one that would… lighten your load, so to say,” as he spoke, he turned away from Nappa, and moved back towards Vegeta.

“I would like to take over guardianship of the boy. Not full time, I’m far too busy for that, but part time. I would control his training schedule, have him tutored by my best men, make him into the best he could be. He would still live with you, but you would no longer have to worry what he’s doing every day. We can report to you if he continues his less desirable habits, but I would be in charge of disciplinary action as I see fit,” the man turned back to Nappa.

He considered the offer for a moment, just a moment, before the shame at even thinking about it overcame him. His leader had left him with one job, he wasn’t about to give it away so easily.

“Listen you son of a bitch, I have two people left in this world, and they were both left in my care. Before you came along my allegiance belonged to this boy's father alone, and I am not about to betray the one job he left me with. I’m taking him back to our room, now. I don’t want to hear any more of this absolute trash,” as he spoke he walked up to the Lord. He towered over the Dragonborn, though he knew he stood no chance against him. Once he stood face to face with him, he heard a small voice speak next to him.

“Stand down Nappa. He’s not asking for your permission,” he looked down at his charge, and saw the same blank face he saw the night the barracks had been destroyed. He looked back at his Lord’s face and saw a look of smug superiority.

“See, this boy is already learning. There’s still hope for him to become something other than a savage such as yourself General. Don’t pretend that this isn’t what’s for the best,” Frieza placed on hand on Vegeta’s shoulder as he spoke.

“Do you understand our agreement?” he asked as though it was actually a question. He didn’t answer at first, and he saw as Frieza’s grip tightened on the boys shoulder, a dangerous flash appeared in the Dragonborn’s eyes.

“Fine,” he gritted out.

“Wonderful. I trust you don’t need to be escorted out?” Frieza said curtly, and Nappa heard as someone opened the door behind them. Nappa shook his head, biting his tongue hard enough he swore he felt the familiar taste of blood.

“The goodbye General,” Frieza said in his deceivingly pleasant manner, before leaning down to Vegeta’s level.

“I’ll be speaking with you again soon prince,” he said. Vegeta stiffly pulled himself out of the chair before walking out of the room without waiting for Nappa. Nappa didn’t hesitate to follow after the boy, and Raditz followed them both down the hall asking questions to the two of them over what had happened in the room. Neither said anything until they arrived at their room.

The conversation that followed was short, explosive, and ended in several bruises inflicted by Vegeta. The following morning Vegeta had asked what happened to Raditz’ eye, and when he was told he’d been the one who’d done it he fell back into that blank space he’d been going to in the past month. Nappa couldn’t help but wish he could go there with the boy, but instead he poured himself another glass of some moonshine he’s bought from a smuggler.


End file.
